


Paths Collide

by XanderLuvsAll



Category: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter - Laurell K. Hamilton, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-04
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2017-12-17 15:07:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/868925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XanderLuvsAll/pseuds/XanderLuvsAll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As the Gang leaves Sunnydale behind, Xander hears a ghost from his past that he never expected to hear from again. They all must face a new evil to save Xander</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Reunited

For the first time since he entered the Hellmouth three years ago Xander suddenly feels a presence in his mind that had nothing to do with Willow or..Tara. It took him a moment to realize who it was. Asher. Asher who he had not talked to since he had asked Asher to choice between Jean Claude and he and only been greeted with silence. Xander had left the room then the state swiftly after, ignoring Asher's calls to come back, that he loved him. Xander knew he didn't, that it was all just a trick as Asher couldn't have Jean-Claude sexual so he was using Xander. Making him his human servant so that Xander couldn't leave him. Only he hadn't realized that Anita's friend Tammy would tell him that the Hellmouth would destroy the marks.

So Xander had driven from St.Louis to Sunnydale in eleven hours, breaking every speed limit in the books to do it as he was going to get there before Asher could get to him. Asher himself had admitted that he couldn't step foot in Sunnydale, no vampire of his breed could. The Hellmouth drained his kind while filling the demonic breed with power. No one knows why. So Xander just drove and refused to listen to a single word Asher spoke as each word was a lie. Then he reached the Hellmouth and felt such pain that he almost reconsidered and return but upon remembering Asher's betrayal and the hurt it had caused and stayed. It was worth it.

The pain eventually stopped and Xander was free of Asher forever, free to love again which he eventually did with Tara and Willow, but he was wrong. The Hellmouth must only block it, not destroy. No one probably ever realized as must people don't escape the Hellmouth, let alone destroy one. Now.....Well, now he did not know what to do. Asher was once again in his head, using the marks he had thought destroyed. The marks he had consented to willing when he had thought to spend eternity with him and thus his powers would not break them. The marks he had never told the others about. He was so screwed. Then he was forcibly pulled into his mind.

Asher was there and still as perfect as ever but Xander shed from that thought, not willing to think like that. Asher moved to him while he was distracted and he was thus startled when he was being touched. "Mon amour, please. Speak to me.. I have missed you so much..I thought about going to you, of risking death to get to you."Xander turned away, by not doing it Asher showed how little he meant to him. Asher seemed to sense it, his thoughts."I didn't come only because of the fact that you ran from me...You left me willing. I couldn't bring myself to force myself on you....I thought about it, about begging you but...I've punished myself so many times for losing you, been punished but its never enough. Xander, please I."Then he was awake.

Willow was staring at him,having sensed...something was off with him but being able to sense what it was exactly, only that something was. They may not be 'together' right now, the grief of Tara still being to fresh but their love was binding, far more binding then stupid, meaningless marks. Xander pulls her to him and just holds on tightly and tries not to cry at the futility of it all. Soon Asher would discover where he was and Xander didn't know what to do. Could he let Buffy, the other Slayers or even Willow herself kill him. Ignoring his own possible death, did he want Asher dead.

The answer to that question was sadly still an unknown to him so Xander just held Willow. Not reacting when the newly healed Cordelia joined them and touched them both. Trying to offer what comfort she could, even Faith joined them, sensing something was going on with her Boy-toy and not liking it. He had been hurt enough. The four of them just touched each other in silence as Giles drove the bus to ...wherever they were going. Not that Xander cared as Asher could find him anywhere thanks to having three marks. Xander refused to go back to the man who had willing hurt him, chose another over him.

With those thoughts in his mind, Xander put all his will behind the marks closing, preventing Asher from entering his mind. It wouldn't last long term as they were to closely bond and he sucked at keeping his shields up while he slept but it worked for now.Xander untangled himself from his girls and went to the front of the bus, to Giles. Who immediately turned to his son.

"What is it, Xander?" Worried at the feeling he was getting from him. Xander smiled slightly at him.

"Could we pull over. I need to speak to several of you without supernatural ears listening in." There was several hmps coming from all of the Slayers in the bus which caused both of them to smirk as it proved Xander's point. Giles soon pulled over at a motel and they got several rooms. Xander, Willow, Cordelia, Faith, Buffy and Dawn piled into the room they'd gotten for themselves. Well, the two rooms thanks to a connecting door. As they had no interests in being separated and would share the four beds. They all sat down on two of them and looked at Xander.

Who sighed and tried to figure out where to start, how to explain what had happened during his 'missing months' as they called them. The beginning would probably work.

"It all started when my car broke down in St.Louis."


	2. Remembering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xander begins his tale of finding love and heartbreak

"When the car broke down in St. Louis, Xander chose to continue with his no using his money or powers thing and got a job. At the only place he could find one. Guilty Pleasure. There he met Asher and in a matter of days ended up sleeping with him. Their attraction was so strong and so instant that Xander didn't even think about it. It didn't matter that Asher was a guy and a vamp, all that mattered was that Xander was drawn to him on a whole new level. Things progressed quickly from there and soon he agreed to meet some of his 'friends'.

On his own terms though as he had no intention of going on anyone else territories. Asher choose to introduce Xander to weres. first and they all got one hell of a surprise. For the moment Rafael, Micah and Narcissa entered Xander's presence, they all felt the overwhelming urge to bow before him. Crawl. Submit. The urge was finally to much and they did thusly. All Xander could do was gape at the Alpha weres. acting like betas. Well, he did that and he laughed in approval at how smart they were, laughed hyena like. Which caused Xander to get a clue, not one he liked though. The Primal.

All he could do after that was swear, a lot, at the realization that the Primal spirit was causing all of this, meaning it was still powerfully in him. Something that shouldn't be possible, after all he was the King of Magic. He would know if he was still in anyway possessed. So he wasn't. He was just something else. Denial was a river in Egypt after all Turning to Asher, Xander asked to leave and though incredibly confused, Asher couldn't deny him anything. So Asher grabbed Xander and took to the sky. Which caused Xander to laugh as he absolutely loved the air, loved to fly even if it wasn't under his power. He trusted Asher.

Getting out of telling Asher exactly what had happened wasn't easy but as Asher didn't want to do anything to spook him he let it go. And insured that Jean-Claude didn't learn of it as Asher had no intention of allowing his love to be used by anyone not even his former lover. For once Asher was thinking only of himself and the one he loved, no power plays, no anything. Xander was simply the one he wanted and no one would be allowed to hurt him, not even one he had sworn his loyalty and love to. He would protect him or so he thought at the time.

As the next day Xander was simply taking a walk when he was hit by a car and found himself laying on the filthy side walk with half his chest caved in. It was only by luck that Asher managed to find him at all and when he did, Asher flew to his side and practically tried to press all of Xander's blood back into him. Didn't work, of course but he kept trying. Xander grabbed at his hand and tried to say the words to release his magic but his throat was partially crushed. He was going to die because he had bound his own magic, ironic huh. Asher caressed his face.

"Eternity with me. Vampire strength, powers....Please, Xander."But Xander shook his head, he would die before becoming a vampire even if he now loved one. Xander shakily kissed Asher's hand then placed it over his heart, trying to tell him that he loved him. Asher wept blood."I love you too. I...." Asher realized that there was only one option open to him that didn't involve Xander hating him. He had never planned on taking another Servant after losing Julianna but the thought of losing Xander hurt a thousand times more. So Asher gave him a Mark then another in rapid concession to make sure he was healed completely.

Xander didn't know what he was doing but found he no longer had the strength to stay concouis so he embraced the Darkness, knowing that he would not wake up again. Of course he did, a day later in a silk bed with Asher curled around him. Somehow Xander knew that he was different, that Asher had done something to bind them together, to change them. Yet oddly enough Xander was not disturbed by that knowledge, at least not as much as he should be. All he does was hold Asher tighter to him, ignoring the fact that he was holding a corpse at the moment. As vampires were both stronger and weaker off the Hellmouth. As were demons.

When Asher awoke for the day, he turned instantly to Xander as he needed to assure himself that Xander still lived and had not slipped beyond his reach while he was dead. Upon finding Xander still alive and watching him, Asher found himself feeling unsure. After all, they had never spoken about being anything more than lovers, deathbed confessions of love beside and Asher had just bound them for all of time. Or until one of them die, maybe. So he didn't know how Xander would react to this situation,especially as he was a hunter. The White Knight, legendary already, vampire killer. Now he was bond to a vampire when he had been willing to face death then being a vampire. Xander touched his face to get his attention.

"Hey....I know you did something. I'm still human so whatever you did, we'll deal. Okay. I'm not ungrateful to be alive,promise. So tell me." And he did, Asher told him about the Marks, Human Servants and even about Julianna, something he had never done before as he never spoke of her unless they had known her. Not even with Anita. For Xander it was difficult for him to accept that he was now a Servant, God he hated that name, to a vampire. Even one he loved. Bound to a vampire for as long as he lived, which would be eternity. Or only freed if Asher died and he survived it. Which wasn't likely, Asher surviving Julianna was a big deal as it was rare.

As Xander didn't know how to respond to all over it, he simply asked for time to deal with it all. Asher agreed though he asked about the Primal and the magic that he had glimpsed in the Marking. So Xander explained about being possessed by the Primal spirit, the first animal to ever exist and who was the ancestor of every single animal to ever be. For years Xander had thought the Primal gone but was now being forced to realize that It was still there. As for the magic.

"Well, that is actually a funny story. One Halloween, I went dressed as King Arthur with Excalibur but I was wearing a Triquata as well. And a chaos mage cast a spell that caused everyone to turn into their costumes. So I turned into King Arthur with a twist. In a reality close to our own there is a new King Arthur, reborn as the King of Magic named Wyatt Halliwell. His families symbol is the Triquata so I turned into him. Thus I am Alexander Orleans, King of Magic. I still even have Excalibur as the spell made me magic incarnate and thus couldn't effect me when it ended." Xander smiled at Asher's amazed expression. While unsure of why he had revealed everything to him, he was content.

Asher was completely stunned by this turn of events, by what Xander had all revealed to him but after a while decided that it didn't change anything. Xander was till Xander and Asher still loved him for him and not his power or his money neither of which he had known about as he had only just found out about. He did tell Xander to lift the spell on is magic so he wasn't in danger again, he could keep his glamour up. Xander thought about it, this was suppose to be the summer without magic, money or any other hassle. Then he remembered dying and did it, even summoning Excalibur to him once again.

The rest of the night was filled with Asher showing how much he loved Xander and how happy he was that he was still alive. They both ignored the outside noise of people trying to get in the room. As Xander had raised his shield around the room, preventing anyone from getting in and interrupting them. It wasn't until three days later that they actually left the room as both were starving. Once they ate, they had to face Jean-Claude who was not happy as he had been frantic with worry these last four days at being unable to get to Asher. Upon finding another man with Asher, who smelled of Asher and sex made it worse.

When he sensed the Marks, Jean-Claude thought for a brief moment that this was what death felt like. Asher being with another was like having his heart ripped out over and over again, Asher actually binding himself to another forever was like dying. As he had lost Asher after only gaining him back and sadly he knew it was largely his fault as he had allowed Anita to dictate to him that he couldn't be with Asher because of her slight homophobia. He'd allowed it out of fear of losing Anita and out of fear of Asher. Now he didn't have a choice.


	3. Acts of Anger and Love

Instantly Xander didn't like Jean-Claude just by looking at him and by the feelings he was getting from him. It wasn't just because the pirate looking vamp had once been Asher's lover. Which he reeeeaaaalllly didn''t like at all. Asher was his, especially after the Marks and no one would take him away from him at all. Xander would vaporise or skew them on Excailbur anyone who even tried. It was..something else though, something that made his instincts scream to kill him and it wasn't the vamp thing either. All and all, Xander just wanted Jean-Claude to go away. He contemplated simply killing him but Asher picked up on that thought and frowned at him. Upon realizing that Asher was reading his thoughts, Xander raised a shield around his mind.

While this was all going on Jean-Claude was 'interrogating' Asher about all that had happened and was not at all happy by what he was learning. Especially the fact that Xander had been Asher's lover for a while and he had not even known about it. It hurt that something that was now a fundamental part of Asher, he had not known about. Once they had known everything about each other and now...now they could barely be together. Hell, Asher had stopped being alone with him after it became clear that Jean Claude would follow Anita's wishes. Irrationally that had hurt Jean-Claude, made him wonder if Asher would ever fight for him. Wonder why none of his lovers truly wanted him. Anita preferred Richard to him, Julianna was Asher's in ways she was never his and Asher turned away from his completely after the priests had...done what they had.

And now..now Asher had another human servant, another lover that Jean-Claude knew nothing about and he wasn't sure of what to do about it. Or if he even could do anything about it which caused him to rage at Asher. Which annoyed Xander a great deal but it wasn't until Anita and Richard arrived demanding answers, having felt Jean-Claude's confusing emotions. The three of them began to demand answers at the same time and with Asher becoming angry on top of his own emotions, Xander just.. exploded. His magic erupted across the room. Causing everyone to shut up and look at him. When Anita reached for a gun, Xander just sighed and waved all her weapons away. As he had heard about her shot first attitude and was in no mood to deal with it.

"Now listen up, all of you. For I will not say it again and if you do not remember it, I will teach you a lesson you shall never forget. I AM ASHER'S...Mate....I like that better then Human Servant as I am no ones servant. My magic is not to be trifled with, which means neither am I. I will protect Asher from any that would dare to harm him, be it physical or emotional. Both of which one of you seem to be willing to do at one time or another. Added to it is the fact that I am tied to him so I feel what he feels and I may die if he dies. And as all you know, the human survival instinct is rivaled by only our parental instinct so don't become a threat for if you do you die." Xander then smiled and threw them all out of the room and closed the door with a bang. Asher clapped.

"Bravo, mon amour. That was simply beautiful."Asher drew Xander into his arms and Xander wrapped himself around him. He may still be unsure about all that had taken place and so quickly but he had spoke the truth. Xander would protect his lover and mate. None would be allowed to harm him, not even the ones Asher cares for. After all, it was better to beg for forgiveness then to ask for permission. Not that he would ever ask for permission to do anything. He was Alexander after all, he told people what to do not the other way around.

To make sure Asher understood that and did not play any vamp games on him, Xander gave a very long rant about it. Making sure that Asher grasped that Xander would be his equal and not his slave or servant. Asher is surprised by Xander but in the end knows that he is right, equality or he will lose Xander and that is not something he could tolerate. After ail it had only been less then a week that Xander was laying dying in his arms and Asher had realized that a life without him would have no meaning. So he agreed then pulled Xander onto the bed and seduced Xander into showing his 'equality' by having Xander make love to him. Blissfully.

The weeks that followed were rather different then what they had, had before. What with everyone now knowing and all. Jean-Claude tried repeatedly to get Asher alone but Asher always refused and Jean-Claude was unwilling to force it. Both because Asher was newly returned to him and thus still likely to leave him again and because he feared that if he ordered Asher to speak to him alone that Asher would refuse and what would Jean-Claude do. He could never punish Asher, such a thought was repudant to him. Not to mention Xander would probably kill him. On top of that Anita was not speaking to him as she felt his jealousy and because she was jealous as well. And didn't like it that there was nothing she could do about it.

Richard found Jean-Claude and Anita's reaction to the whole funny as no one deserved it more but he was also worried. As someone with tremendous power had just appeared, managed to bond with the second in command of the city and had efficiently distracted the Master and his Servant. If Xander wanted to take everything, nothing would stop him now. A fact that made him worried for his pack and even for his Triumvirate members as while he hated them, he had no true desire to see either of them dead despite everything. So even Richard had tried to see Asher only to be denied, laughed at and disdained. Asher had no time for the cowardly wolf. Only Xander mattered.

Xander watched it all silently and wished, silently of course as he now knew better, that Asher and he could go back to the days where it was just them. Now everyone knew and it was annoying. Asher knew that Xander felt that way but was unsure of how to fix the situation. Especially as Xander hated any vamp but him and refused to enter the Circus in any manner as it was filled with vamps and clowns, two things he hated greatly. The clowns less so after the whole nightmares coming to life thing but still Xander had no wish to see vampire clowns in any circumstances.

To make his mate feel better, Asher took him on the most romantic evening he could think of and while it made Xander feel like a girl, he did enjoy it. Most importantly, he loved Asher for doing it for him. So that night he decided to try something that he had been debating about for a while. After Asher went 'dead' after a lovely round of lets have sex till we're to soar to move, Xander placed his hands on Asher. Willing with all of his might, Xander hoped that he would be able to make this work.

In the reality Wyatt came from, healing only worked when hurt by evil and on the good but perhaps this reality without the Elders it would work here. Xander had refused to try it when Angel lay dying and Buffy had been furious but he hadn't cared. Now, he did as he wanted to heal Asher of the scars that so plagued him and reminded him of what he had lost.

Minutes went by and nothing happened and Xander was about to give up when his hands started to glow. With a whoop of pure joy, Xander watched as the scars slowly disappeared. Once it was done, Xander looked at him and his breath caught. To him, Asher had been gorgeous before but now he was godly. Absolutely breath takingly perfect. Come two o'clock when Asher woke, earlier and earlier since their bonding all Xander did was watch Asher. 

Even after Asher kissed him good morning he watched him, waiting for him to notice the new accessories to the room. Mirror upon mirror. It took several minutes for it to happen as Asher was to busy kissing him but when he did, all Asher did was stare. After almost an hour of staring ,which Xander spent just watching him in wonder Asher finally spoke. In French and babbling.

"How.....How...Why....When."Then he seemed to faint and Xander just laughed.


End file.
